New MacBook Pros

[Kupkake]

First some background,  hubby and I have antique Dell computers which have multiple ailments.  Actually his is in worst shape than mine and has lost most of its mind. 

For months of saying "I'm going to a Mac and listening to "it's too expensive",  you're just extravagant, and other miscellaneous and sundry negative comments, I gave KoKoPUf an iPad 2 for Christmas so he could have one of his own.  Two weeks ago he started talking about getting a Mac for himself.  I stayed quiet and lumbered on on my dinosaur Dell.  Last week he made the big statement"  Let's get MacBook Pros".  I exhaled quietly and said "are you sure?".  I let him ruminate on it for a few days, as he is tends to do and then announced I had had enough and was ordering mine (on Jan 12).  He waited until Jan. 14 (who wants to order a computer on Friday the 13th?) and ordered his. 

They both came yesterday and beauties they are!  So easy to set up and use and I am running around shouting "I love it! I love it!  I love it!

So if you are out there somewhere, Flyboy, I joined the Mac generation.  Why did I suffer so long??

[2Stater]

How are they priced, Kupkake?

[pmull]

How are they priced, Kupkake?

The link below is to the Apple Store. Mac's sell for about the same price everywhere so shopping is easy. You pay what they say or you don't get it. There are great machines. The MacBook Pro is the most popular. The MacBook Air is less expensive but it goes not have a DVD Rom. I will be buying my third Mac in May when by youngest daughter graduates high school for her to take to college. The Mac commercials about them being trouble free are accurate.

Click here for link

[Kupkake]

2Stater-

They are priced about the same everywhere BUT if you buy from Amazon.com you don't have to pay sales tax ( a savings of over $200) and you can still buy the Apple Care protection plan and have all the benefits as if you bought it from Apple.  We bought the 15.4" MacBook Pro computers and the Apple Care Protection (which is cheaper on Amazon than Apple).  There are a variety of models on Amazon to choose from. 

We flipped back and forth on software.  We haven't purchased any software yet, but if you go to Apple.com, click on Mac and scroll down the page and it will tell you how to download software through Apps.  It is much cheaper than buying the box with a disk.  I have Pages, Numbers and Keynote on my iPad 2 so I may download the iWork for iOS version which is cheaper still.

An additional comment, everything from the box and packaging to the computer itself is superior to any thing I have seen from any previous computer I have purchased.  My Dell didn't cost that much less either.

Obviously, I'm no expert after one morning but I am amazed at the learning curve!

[SUPERCOACH]

I bought my second Mac about 6 months ago.  I bought the 27" iMac.  The huge display is awesome.  I love everything about it.  I also have an iPad 2.  I have owned dozens of PCs over the years, and none of them come close to the Apple products I own.  Apple stuff just works.  PCs running Windows have to be wiped clean and re-installed all the time, although it is not nearly as bad today with Windows 7.

If you run across a Windows program that you can't do with out, there are ways you can easily run it on your Mac now.  I run Windows software on my Mac every day.  I can give you more details if anyone needs to do this.

[N.AL-Tider]

My dad's old Dell desktop was slower than molasses on a cold winter day and he complained about it nonstop.  He finally asked me to look for him a new computer so I promptly pulled up dell.com and started looking through their laptops.  He was horrified that they cost as much as $700+ to which I simply rolled my eyes (without him noticing of course).  He couldn't/wouldn't justify spending that much for a computer.  Without notice a couple of weeks later he goes to BestBuy with Mom and purchased a new MacBook Pro and gave over $1700 for it...

[Kupkake]

My dad's old Dell desktop was slower than molasses on a cold winter day and he complained about it nonstop.  He finally asked me to look for him a new computer so I promptly pulled up dell.com and started looking through their laptops.  He was horrified that they cost as much as $700+ to which I simply rolled my eyes (without him noticing of course).  He couldn't/wouldn't justify spending that much for a computer.  Without notice a couple of weeks later he goes to BestBuy with Mom and purchased a new MacBook Pro and gave over $1700 for it...

I hope he loves his as much as I love mine!  I never thought I would be a raving maniac over Apple products!  Now we are waiting for the iPhone 5 and we will ditch our 4 year old non-smart phones!  Then we will be total converts!

[2Stater]

Thanks for the info. I've always heard great things about Apple products.

[Kupkake]

Supercoach-

Do we need to have a virus protection on our MacBook Pros?  We currently have ESET and have never had an in intrusion (used it for at least 10) years although it has caught and quarantined a number of viruses.  I was researching last night and discover they offer ESET Cybersecurity for Mac and it is compatible with OS Lion which we have.  Our current two year contract expires within the month.  Should we  put Mac security on the new computers.  When I was hit by the virus that wrecked my old computer years ago, I had to call a computer geek to fix it.  He recommended ESET and we have been very happy with it and are willing to pay the price if it will prevent bad experiences with viruses. 

You sound like the resident Mac expert so I'd like your advice.

[SUPERCOACH]

I don't know much about virus protection for the Mac.  I don't use anything myself, but I would not recommend that for "normal" people.  I just looked and ESET is sold on the apple.com store, so it is probably a good choice.  If you have been happy with the PC version, I would stick with it.  JMHO.

[Kupkake]

I don't know much about virus protection for the Mac.  I don't use anything myself, but I would not recommend that for "normal" people.  I just looked and ESET is sold on the apple.com store, so it is probably a good choice.  If you have been happy with the PC version, I would stick with it.  JMHO.

Thank you very much, Supercoach!  Your answer was VERY helpful!

[Coach Hank Crisp]

I bought my second Mac about 6 months ago.  I bought the 27" iMac.  The huge display is awesome.  I love everything about it.  I also have an iPad 2.  I have owned dozens of PCs over the years, and none of them come close to the Apple products I own.  Apple stuff just works.  PCs running Windows have to be wiped clean and re-installed all the time, although it is not nearly as bad today with Windows 7.

If you run across a Windows program that you can't do with out, there are ways you can easily run it on your Mac now.  I run Windows software on my Mac every day.  I can give you more details if anyone needs to do this.

I would love to have a Mac but i am stuck in the windows world. I use Dell laptops.

I have to upload to alarm network systems. These are prioritary software driven. None of the systems I work on use Mac. They all use Windows and even old DOS programs.

NFPA ( National Fire Protection Assoiciation ) has not even forced the system builders like Siemens , Notifier, EST, and Simplex to use the same software so it is a true nightmare with each system using different programs.

UL tests the alarm software for usage on systems. They have no reason to do anything fast because they are the authority having jurisdiction that governs the industry. What they don,t realize is that the cost of bring in a specialist from a company that has the software runs around 2 thousand dollars a day.

So you know what happens? The customers don't get their fire safety networks systems updated or repaired putting people at risk. I can go do NFPA 72 test and inspections on systems and turn in the failure reports and unless a fire marshall makes them update or repair they leave them with troubles on them and outdated.

I still have to use serial ports and old cables to talk with systems.

Maybe one day I can get a Mac just to use for non-business applications.

Same thing with Special Hazard Fire Suppression releasing sytems.


 












i

[Kupkake]

I bought my second Mac about 6 months ago.  I bought the 27" iMac.  The huge display is awesome.  I love everything about it.  I also have an iPad 2.  I have owned dozens of PCs over the years, and none of them come close to the Apple products I own.  Apple stuff just works.  PCs running Windows have to be wiped clean and re-installed all the time, although it is not nearly as bad today with Windows 7.

If you run across a Windows program that you can't do with out, there are ways you can easily run it on your Mac now.  I run Windows software on my Mac every day.  I can give you more details if anyone needs to do this.

I would love to have a Mac but i am stuck in the windows world. I use Dell laptops.

I have to upload to alarm network systems. These are prioritary software driven. None of the systems I work on use Mac. They all use Windows and even old DOS programs.

NFPA ( National Fire Protection Assoiciation ) has not even forced the system builders like Siemens , Notifier, EST, and Simplex to use the same software so it is a true nightmare with each system using different programs.

UL tests the alarm software for usage on systems. They have no reason to do anything fast because they are the authority having jurisdiction that governs the industry. What they don,t realize is that the cost of bring in a specialist from a company that has the software runs around 2 thousand dollars a day.

So you know what happens? The customers don't get their fire safety networks systems updated or repaired putting people at risk. I can go do NFPA 72 test and inspections on systems and turn in the failure reports and unless a fire marshall makes them update or repair they leave them with troubles on them and outdated.

I still have to use serial ports and old cables to talk with systems.

Maybe one day I can get a Mac just to use for non-business applications.

Same thing with Special Hazard Fire Suppression releasing systems.


You have my sympathy.  I started out on DOS and still remember some of the commands I used.  I am amazed anyone still uses DOS - that was more years ago than I want to remember.  I also remember you could very easily erase the hard drive by typing at the prompt: format c.  I had some staff members who learned that the hard way!

I am learning the Mac, probably not as quickly as I think, but it sure is a lot less frustrating and I am able to do most of the things I need to do.  It will be a looong time before I'm at SUPERCOACH level - no make that I will never be at SUPERCOACH level!

You should reward yourself sometime with a Mac.  I'm moving back and forth between my Mac and my Dell right now and there are a number of similarities.  You have to be much more computer literate than I am with the kind of work you do.  For you it would be a piece of cake!

 












i

[SUPERCOACH]

I bought my second Mac about 6 months ago.  I bought the 27" iMac.  The huge display is awesome.  I love everything about it.  I also have an iPad 2.  I have owned dozens of PCs over the years, and none of them come close to the Apple products I own.  Apple stuff just works.  PCs running Windows have to be wiped clean and re-installed all the time, although it is not nearly as bad today with Windows 7.

If you run across a Windows program that you can't do with out, there are ways you can easily run it on your Mac now.  I run Windows software on my Mac every day.  I can give you more details if anyone needs to do this.

I would love to have a Mac but i am stuck in the windows world. I use Dell laptops.

I have to upload to alarm network systems. These are prioritary software driven. None of the systems I work on use Mac. They all use Windows and even old DOS programs.

NFPA ( National Fire Protection Assoiciation ) has not even forced the system builders like Siemens , Notifier, EST, and Simplex to use the same software so it is a true nightmare with each system using different programs.

UL tests the alarm software for usage on systems. They have no reason to do anything fast because they are the authority having jurisdiction that governs the industry. What they don,t realize is that the cost of bring in a specialist from a company that has the software runs around 2 thousand dollars a day.

So you know what happens? The customers don't get their fire safety networks systems updated or repaired putting people at risk. I can go do NFPA 72 test and inspections on systems and turn in the failure reports and unless a fire marshall makes them update or repair they leave them with troubles on them and outdated.

I still have to use serial ports and old cables to talk with systems.

Maybe one day I can get a Mac just to use for non-business applications.

Same thing with Special Hazard Fire Suppression releasing sytems.


 












i

Get yourself a MacBook Pro and run VMWare Fusion for about $50.

Click here for link

Then you can make as many "virtual" pc's as you want, each one running Windows, DOS, Linux, whatever.  You should also be able to access the USB ports from the virtual PC just fine.  I plug stuff into mine all the time and access it from the virtual machine without any issues.  You will need to get a $10 cable that is an adapter that goes from USB to Serial to connect to the devices you program.

One great thing about this type of setup is that each virtual PC is in its own little "sandbox".  If you have to put some junky old software on one of them to access some outdated proprietary system, it will be isolated to that virtual PC and will not clutter up or otherwise interfere with your "real" Mac that is the host, or any of the other virtual PCs you setup.

If you buy one, get it from somewhere that will let you bring it back within a couple of weeks just in case it won't connect to some of the hardware.  I don't expect that to be an issue, but you never know.  I haven't ever tried to access an old serial port from my Mac, but it is a very simple device and it should work just fine with the USB to Serial adapter cable.

[Leewillie]

My dad's old Dell desktop was slower than molasses on a cold winter day and he complained about it nonstop.  He finally asked me to look for him a new computer so I promptly pulled up dell.com and started looking through their laptops.  He was horrified that they cost as much as $700+ to which I simply rolled my eyes (without him noticing of course).  He couldn't/wouldn't justify spending that much for a computer.  Without notice a couple of weeks later he goes to BestBuy with Mom and purchased a new MacBook Pro and gave over $1700 for it...

I hope he loves his as much as I love mine!  I never thought I would be a raving maniac over Apple products!  Now we are waiting for the iPhone 5 and we will ditch our 4 year old non-smart phones!  Then we will be total converts!

I didn't realize that you and the "old man" had become such teckies.

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